


Meta: Castiel's Wardrobe

by DefilerWyrmMeta (Defiler_Wyrm)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Archived From Tumblr, Costumes, Episode: s09e06 Heaven Can't Wait, Gen, Meta, Metafiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 10:19:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16972746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Defiler_Wyrm/pseuds/DefilerWyrmMeta
Summary: Costuming is a very important part of character design in any visual medium. Castiel’s clothing has set him apart from the beginning, and continued to do so when it suddenly changed.





	Meta: Castiel's Wardrobe

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [on Tumblr](http://defilerwyrm.tumblr.com/post/68321438635/yes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe) ca. 2013. Presented without editing. Sorry about any dead links. I'm pretty sure these were screencaps of Gabriel, Lucifer, and idr who else, maybe Balthazar.

yes hello I would like to talk about this wardrobe change

It’s well-established that dark business suits with starched white shirts and (for male vessels) neckties is the standard uniform of envesseled angels in  _Supernatural_. They wear their clothes the way they wear their bodies. It creates the image of angels as a cold, intellectual, powerful army and to an extent emphasises their vessels’ loss of identity as well as the lack of individualism among the Host.

Angels important to the narrative show differences: Castiel, modeled after John Constantine, wears a trademark trench coat that flutters around him over the standard suit-and-tie. Zachariah, a high-ranking cherub, wears a pale grey suit that speaks of upper-class status among humans. The archangels dress like Hunters which all at once connects them to their True Vessels, sets them apart from the rest of angelkind, and shows their haste – the exception being the fundamentalist Raphael who dons formalwear as soon as s/he takes over in Michael’s absence, the way a general wears his/her branch’s dress uniform. Naomi’s Gestapo* angels wear grey suits, setting them apart and calling into question their place and purpose. Balthazar the deserter wears casual, roguish clothes to match his no-fucks-given mercenary attitude.

Castiel having to choose between Jimmy Novak’s clothing – the uniform he’s worn as an angel for years – and the immediate needs of his newfound humanity in 9.03 was an immense thing. It wasn’t just getting Misha into new wardrobe. It was transformative to the character. He lost his species identity almost wholly and was cast down into the teeming chaos of humanity; how apt that how he clothed himself the first time was ill-fitting, colourfully clashing, and taken out of desperation!

Next, in 9.06, we see him in uniform again, but rather than the menace and import of a seraph it’s the bright, cheap clothing of small-business retail – a position held in low esteem by many and subjected to a great deal of undue social and economic abuses.

Now we see him in a suit again,  _sans_  coat, as the Host prepares to go to war again. I might eat these words next week but that suit tells me a thing or two. It tells me that he’s making his choice about his place in the world, that it  _is_  among the Host one way or another. It tells me that he’s doing so with humility, forgoing the grandeur and individual “plumage” his former rank would have afforded him. It tells me that he likely intends to come out in the open, relatively unguarded, lacking the implied protection of an overcoat. It tells me that he’s choosing his identity.

This is a Castiel who’s stepping back up to the plate and facing his family.

Maybe I shouldn’t say such things, though, because we’ve seen what happens to [angels](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeofthenutty.com%2Fsupernatural%2Fscreencaps%2Fdisplayimage.php%3Falbum%3D101%26pid%3D50350%23top_display_media&t=Mzg4NDBkMmE0MDk3MjAwMzhhMmViMTViYmYxMWQ0OTIyNDc4NGU5OSxQZlVFNEd0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3AZYWmCmvJm8yYLSyMpAV2Jg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdefilerwyrm.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F68321438635%2Fyes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe&m=1) who [stand up](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeofthenutty.com%2Fsupernatural%2Fscreencaps%2Fdisplayimage.php%3Falbum%3D104%26pid%3D53284%23top_display_media&t=NGFhNjM4YjFhZGI1OTc4Y2ExNGFmNjgzMmRjZWNkZTlhOWRmYjQwNCxQZlVFNEd0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3AZYWmCmvJm8yYLSyMpAV2Jg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdefilerwyrm.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F68321438635%2Fyes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe&m=1) to their [brothers](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeofthenutty.com%2Fsupernatural%2Fscreencaps%2Fdisplayimage.php%3Falbum%3D104%26pid%3D53763%23top_display_media&t=MDA5YjYxZmE4MzNhNGVlNTVkM2FlZWIyNWJiYTc2MjNmODRiOWQ3NyxQZlVFNEd0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3AZYWmCmvJm8yYLSyMpAV2Jg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdefilerwyrm.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F68321438635%2Fyes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe&m=1).

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sources: [[x](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeofthenutty.com%2Fsupernatural%2Fscreencaps%2Fdisplayimage.php%3Falbum%3D100%26pid%3D48959%23top_display_media&t=YWYyY2YzNDMyMmQzNWU4MzI0ZWI4NzE0YWJkYWVhZGE3ZmRjY2VjOCxQZlVFNEd0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3AZYWmCmvJm8yYLSyMpAV2Jg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdefilerwyrm.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F68321438635%2Fyes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe&m=1)][[x](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fscreencapped.net%2Ftv%2Fsupernatural%2Fdisplayimage.php%3Falbum%3D1418%26pid%3D1742167%23top_display_media&t=NGM0ODA5NmEwOTNjM2UxYWRlZDFiYmRjNGI0MDU3YThmMTdjYzI1YixQZlVFNEd0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3AZYWmCmvJm8yYLSyMpAV2Jg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdefilerwyrm.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F68321438635%2Fyes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe&m=1)][[x](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.homeofthenutty.com%2Fsupernatural%2Fscreencaps%2Fdisplayimage.php%3Falbum%3D180%26pid%3D214554%23top_display_media&t=YzMxMDNhOWIwMTdmMzBiYjcwN2Y5YzU1MjZlMDVkMGM1NmVkZjMzZCxQZlVFNEd0aw%3D%3D&b=t%3AZYWmCmvJm8yYLSyMpAV2Jg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fdefilerwyrm.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F68321438635%2Fyes-hello-i-would-like-to-talk-about-this-wardrobe&m=1)][[x](http://mishaconfetti.tumblr.com/post/68235066928/wars-coming-we-need-to-be-ready-x)]  
special thanks to [AJ](http://messier51.tumblr.com/) and [Turtle](http://yellow-turtle.tumblr.com/)

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*Which I mean literally, in that Gestapo is short for _Geheime Staatspolizei_ , “secret state police”.


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